The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c9.s3.30

c9.s3.30

Thus installed on the throne, the king was expected to be the embodiment of all virtues.⁴ As in the Mahābhārata, he should run the governmental machine himself. He is the chief executive officer, the chief judge, the chief military commander. None the less he lives a life of luxury and pomp. For instance, every morning eulogists, bards, singers and genealogists present themselves at his palace.¹ His eldest son was generally associated with him in the task of administration. The knightly age for a prince was sixteen when he could be expected to take the field.² After his marriage he lived apart from his parents.³ A king sometimes also gave his brothers high positions. For instance, king Janaka placed his brother Kuśadhvaja in charge of an important sacrifice. At the king’s command he occupied a seat worthy of a king.⁴ The story of the Rāmāyaṇa shows that polygamy, rampant among aristocrats, could occasionally lead to serious political complications. When informed of Daśaratha’s command for Rāma’s banishment, Kauśalyā bursts out that she had been disregarded by her husband and reduced below the level of her rival Kaikeyī’s maidservants.⁵ A queen seems to have had an ‘anger-chamber’ where she could retire in moments of high dudgeon, like Kaikeyī, to the discomfiture of her husband.⁶ The daily ‘politics’ of the harem must have been disturbing while their occasional repercussions on the affairs of the kingdom might have proved calamitous. Not the least attractive feature in Rāma’s character is his monogamy.